Code No: R5-408-MBA NR-R5

M.B.A. IV Semester Regular Examinations, Apr/May 2008

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
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Time: 3 hours Max Marks: 60
Answer any FIVE Questions
All Questions carry equal marks
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1. Explain the environment of a system?

2. Relate Decision Support System to SCM, ERP, and the Web.

3. Define a modal? What are the different types of models.

4. Develop a Decision support system for HRM system?

5. Define multidimensional spreadsheets and explain why OLAP systems have them
embedded within.

6. Write notes on Application of DSS in production planning and control.

7. (a) Define artificial intelligence (AI), and describe the five major topics of AI work.
(b) Describe how fuzzy logic can help model the way people make decisions.

8. CASE STUDY AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL, BANGALORE

Manipal Hospital is situated in Bangalore city, known as Garden city of India,

with a population of around 6 million. The hospital located on Airport Road, is in
the centre of eastern part of the city, opened its doors in 1990 for in and around
Bangalore citizens to usher in a new era in sophisticated and specialized medical
care in the southern part of the country. The hospital is housed in a magnifi-
cent twin towered, centrally air-conditioned, fourteen storied building with a bed
strength of 450 at each of the towers, totaling 900. The hospital has been set up
to benefit the local population mainly.
This hospital is an addition to the Manipal family of health care institutions
which included four medical, two dental, nursing and pharmacy colleges and 10
hospitals with a total of around 5000 beds. All of this represents four decades of
their total experience and expertise in medical education and health services and it
is this track record that ensures the quality of Manipal hospital, Bangalore, known
to each and every citizen of Bangalore. This hospital has provided sophisticated
medical and surgical facilities. It has gained reputation in Bangalore as a centre
for medical excellence and it is all due to the pre-eminence of the specialists on
its medical staff panel, its highly skilled nurses and support staff and sophisticated
medical equipment.
A premier, multi specialty unique hospital with multiunit situated at Ban-
galore, Mangalore, Manipal, Nepal, Sikkim and Goa, is committed to providing

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personalized care of the highest order with the widest scope of advanced medical
facilities. The hospital offers its medical services on a break-even financial basis,
thus bringing high quality healthcare on commercial terms. The individual health
insurance plans, company group insurance plans and some subsidized inpatient
beds in line with government directives are some of the highlights that bring so-
phisticated treatment to the middle class family. Besides these, they have standard
screen programs at a very nominal rate for the middle class families and execu-
tive screen programmes for the privileged class at a higher rate covering complete
blood count, urine-analysis, stool examination, blood grouping, blood sugar, urea,
cholesterol, electrolytes, lipid profile, X-ray chest, ECG, creatinine, triglycerides
and finally consultation with physicians, gynecologists etc. They work towards a
preventive approach, pinpointing all possible risk areas and offering solutions to
each and every problem areas with the cream of medical fraternity and state-of-
the-art equipment, and thus each of the Manipal hospitals is a cost centre.
The central office is at Manipal, where the medical director and other
directors working there provide corporate guidance to their other hospitals. They
decide important matters connected with all their units. At Bangalore, CEO heads
the three hospitals (two situated in the Airport Road, one at each of the towers and
the third hospital known as north side hospital situated at Malleswaram, northern
part of Bangalore with 62 beds). One hospital at one of the towers deals with
heart operations and is headed by the divisional head and designated as director,
operations. Similarly, in the 2nd tower for three different operations, like Nephrol-
ogy/Urology, Neurology, Diagnostics, there are three divisional heads who control
the operations in their respective areas. The fifth divisional head of Bangalore is
at the north side hospital. Each of the divisional heads has different departments
under them and each accounts as a separate cost centre. The various departments
are personnel, engineering, maintenance, purchase, accounts, matron, finance of-
ficer, pharmacy, laundry, security, kitchen, housekeeper etc. and their clients are
all at the same level. Each of these officers has again assistants, senior assistants,
and junior assistants etc. to look after various sub-functions. Since, inception of
Manipal Hospital in 1991, the hospital has computerized various recurring activ-
ities like inpatient, outpatient admissions, transfers, discharges, and registration,
certain corporate activities, payrolls, billing etc. from the computers and software
packages purchased at that time. They have also developed softwares of their own
at the head office by their software engineers to suit their operations. Though the
computerization activities are in full swing at various departments the intercon-
nectivity is lacking and the system is also old, to cope up with the increased work
load. At present, they do not have any connection between computers of differ-
ent departments and also with different hospitals. As such, the hospital was very
serious in modernizing the old computer system at each of the departments and
to expand its activities to other departments and to have connectivity to various
hospitals including their hospitals at Nepal and Skkim, which are far off.
The hospital, considering its future expansions as well as anticipated in-
creased work load negotiated with some of the reputed consultants in the software
field, about six months back and is likely to entrust to one of the leading software
companies at Bangalore (short listed) for the full computerization of the hospital.

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Code No: R5-408-MBA NR-R5
They are likely to spend a huge amount for computerization activities and the pilot
project was likely to commence in April 1999. Manipal Hospital at present is hav-
ing MIS activities, at one nodal centre at each of the hospitals. MIS do not have a
separate department, but all MIS activities come under finance controller.
The pilot project commencing in April ’99 included computerization of the
following:

(a) Front office (Administration, registration, discharge, transfer etc.)

%Inpatient
(b) Billing &Outpatient

% Billing
→ Purchase
(c) Accounts
→ Stores
& Payroll
(d) Corporate activities
(e) CDR
(f) Medical records, ward management, OT scheduling, doctors appointments
scheduling, engineering and maintenance, laundry, kitchen, housekeeping, all
wards etc
(g) Laboratory (Interfacing)
(h) Computerized library .... etc and
(i) Radiology

Many of the activities, though existing, need to be updated with new systems
and wherever systems do not cover departments, these are to be included.

According to Mr. Sairam, who is in charge of all these activities at present, confirms
that the entire work will be done in ten phases as under within a span of 2 years
maximum.

(a) Pilot project at Manipal Hospital (Tower 1 - 450 beds).

(b) Extend the pilot project to (Tower 2 - 450 beds).
(c) Extend the same to North side hospital - 62 beds.
(d) Connect all the three through WAN.
(e) Simultaneously with activity 1, work starts at Manipal - 1600 beds.
(f) Simultaneously with activity 2, work starts at Mangalore - 1000 beds.
(g) Connect Bangalore, Mangalore, Manipal, across all the hospitals through ex-
tended WAN.
(h) Extend the similar activities to Nepal.
(i) Extend the similar activities to Goa and Sikkim and

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(j) Connect all hospitals.

During this period, care will be taken to include all high tech systems
like expert systems (may be useful for hospital research work), executive in-
formation systems and DSS for top management to take decisions on vital
matters.

Application Questions

(a) Do you feel that DSS and EIS are required in hospital information system?
Give explanations for both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers.
(b) Analyze whether the expert system could be used effectively in hospital R and
D activities.
(c) In your opinion, the computerization plans of Manipal Hospital, a multiunit,
multi product, multi location organization are OK. Any other suggestions you
could offer in making this still effective, keeping the budget also as a constraint.
(d) Do you think that client/server technology is part of the business strategy for
profit health maintenance organization (HMOS) and hospitals. Why or why
not?

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